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Jirou finds a human woman trying to climb his mountain. What will his curiosity lead him to?





They were saying a human woman had found her way into the mountain. I scoffed at the ridiculousness of the little boys' stories. In the past, I would have punished them for being so noisy. Yet I'd find myself being uncommonly generous these days. I wasn't aware as to why I'd become softer, but things weren't bothering me as much.

This story was flying around the settlement. I was growing irritated as the whispers continued. A woman coming into Mt. Kurama? Preposterous. This was no mountain for humans, let alone the weaker ones among them called women.

Even though I was annoyed at the idea, it didn't take my participation to stop the stories. For some reason, the whispers had stopped and I was left wondering what had happened to the foolish woman said to have been trying to climb up our mountain. As all the tengus had seemed to lose interest, my curiosity grew and I decided to see for myself if the rumor was true.

Only to find it was.

Attempting to climb Mt. Kurama was a woman who seemed young -- she couldn't have been even twenty five. Her long brown hair was light and it had come loose, framing her body as she desperately tried to climb onwards. It was apparent she had lost herself in the mountain.

Even though she was lost and confused, I couldn't take that much interest in her. There had been other people who had tried and given up. She'd most likely just be one of those people. It was amusing to watch though. The woman suddenly seemed injured since she was holding on to her ankle in obvious pain.

I was sure she'd try to make her day down now. She proved me wrong. The ankle was quickly forgotten and she was once again attempting to climb the mountain. It was getting pitifully pathetic to watch at that moment.

I flew over to her, but she looked unaware of my presence. When I grabbed her, she was undoubtedly surprised but it didn't take her long to recover herself. She started screaming at me and wriggling in my arms as I flew her down the mountain, being persistently resistant.

Instead of being afraid that a black-winged man was flying her down an impossibly high mountain, this woman screamed at me, "Hey! Who do you think you are? Let me go, let me go!" She continued screaming in this manner, even saying, "You ruined it all, I was so close to reaching the top!"

Close? She thought she was close? I almost smiled.

Before I let her go, I told her, "Do not dare return, or I shall not help you as I did this time."

"Jerk," she responded.

I didn't expect her to come back. Maybe because I thought that I'd left a bad impression on her. Or maybe I'd felt like she'd forgotten about the mountain and was living peacefully in the world she belonged in. However, it appeared that as soon as her ankle had healed, she decided to return.

How troublesome she was.

Deciding against my better will to not let her just die trying -- it was that irksome softness in me that had recently shown itself -- I found myself flying over to help her again. When I saw her this time, she wasn't struggling or confused. It looked like she was preparing something. What she did when she saw me appear angered me extremely.

Her first reaction was initially surprise, but then this realization and determination became dominant on her features. She quickly chucked a talisman at me and I thought, "This is what I get for being soft."

I should've known the talisman wasn't going to work however. It was completely fake. She realized it, too, and started furiously going off about how mad she was at the vendor who'd sold it to her. Her anger calmed my own but not by much.

"Why did you come back?" I said with a voice laced with suppressed rage. My tone frightened her. Knowing I wouldn't get much out of a frightened girl, I tried saying in a calmer voice, "Why are you even trying to climb this mountain?"

There was a silence before she said:

"Because I want to live an adventure every day."

"What?" The confusion was evident in both my voice and face.

That was when she began telling me her stories. She said her name was Aoi, and that her parents were dead but when they were alive, she realized they weren't living life to the fullest. And she told me stories of her doing bizarre things, like scuba diving and antics that were impossibly alien to me.

"I even got a winged man to fly me down a mountain," she joked.

Her stories were so captivating that I hadn't noticed the sun setting. It was Aoi who mentioned it. I was about to get up when she said, "Thank you for saving my life last time..."

"Jirou," I told her my name. She smiled.

I took her in my arms and we descended the mountain. She told me she would listen to me now and not come back. For some time, I didn't see her. I was beginning to miss the foolish woman who made me realize how strong women -- humans -- could be.

Thankfully, she returned. And it was on such a random day that, had I not been flying around, I would have missed her. When I landed on the part of the mountain she was at, she ran and embraced me, saying with a smile, "I knew you'd come."

She knew I'd come? A warmth was filling me.

Aoi continued, "I tried staying away like I promised but I couldn't. I want to stay here with you and learn more about your mountain and about your world."

It was true that I had started to love her as soon as she began narrating her adventures. I wanted her to live on my mountain and I wanted to teach her about my people. I could easily imagine her hardy nature bearing with the people of Mt. Kurama.

Most of all however...

"I, too, want to hear more of your stories."